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Long walk down memory lane of homesteader's arrival in Soldotna

Jenny Neyman/KDLL

When Marge and Frank Mullen arrived in Soldotna, it involved a plane, a railroad and 65 miles on their feet.
As a young couple in Chicago in the 1940s, the idea of having as much as 160 acres of their own land was appealing to the Mullens, even if that land was somewhere they’d never heard of — the Kenai Peninsula.
“Frank Mullen and myself and his parents and my parents lived in Chicago apartments,” she said. “They never owned even one acre of land.”
Frank was discharged from the military after flying 93 missions in World War II. Retiring veterans got $2,000 and had an opportunity to take part in homesteading in Alaska. Newly married, Frank and Marge used the money to buy a single-engine Stinson 105 with which to fly to Alaska. They got to Merrill Field in Anchorage in August 1945 and used the plane to scout available homestead areas on the Kenai Peninsula. They chose a spot that later became the heart of Soldotna.
“On Soldotna Creek, where it flows into the Kenai River,” she said.

It took until 1947 before they set foot on the land. In the meantime, Marge had two daughters, Peggy and Eileen. Marge’s mother-in-law came to care for the kids while she and Frank set off to claim the 103 acres they had selected.
“We took the Alaska Railroad to Moose Pass, traveled 65 miles to where I now live. I had a Trapper Nelson backpack, a mosquito tent and hiking boots which were not broken in,” she said.
The Sterling Highway was under construction but wasn’t completed until 1950.
They camped the first night at Skilak Lake and realized their mosquito tent was not very useful for rain. But it turned out the rain was a blessing as it helped calm a 310,000-acre wildfire that was still active in the area.
They crossed the Moose River on timbers that had been laid as a temporary bridge for road-building equipment. They passed by Longmere Lake and Marge wished she could stay there, since she loved to swim and ice skate. But they pushed on to what would be their new home.
Frank built their 14-by-16-foot house in the winter of 1948. Marge and the girls came down to stay that spring. A stipulation of the Homestead Act for veterans was that their family had to live on the property for at least seven months before the family was granted a patent to the land.
“I had married a man who had never as much as built a shelf in his mother’s pantry,” she said. “While the children took naps in their bunk beds, I started to chink the huge gaps between in logs. I gathered this wonderful sphagnum moss into a burlap bag. In order to keep the moss secured, I chopped down tiny spruce, removed braches and nailed in over the logs. It worked. The squirrels wanted to take up residence in our cabin. I learned I was a good shot with a .22. One of the squirrels I took down had only three legs. He had met my gun before.”
Even with all that, the official patent on the Mullen homestead is in Frank’s name, only, as women didn’t hold titles to property at the time.
Marge gave her talk as part of Centennial Voices, held Jan. 25 at the Soldotna Library. The event commemorated the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th amendment, recognizing women’s right to vote.
“I’m really happy you decided to celebrate this date because we are one half of the world and each of our votes are powerful. We have to remember that,” she said.
Marge Mullen turns 100 later this year.

Jenny Neyman has been the general manager of KDLL since 2017. Before that she was a reporter and the Morning Edition host at KDLL.
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